Railway-car side door



Sept. 16, 1930. s. E. COUTANT RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR Filed Aug. 2

, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet I121) enior Gearyei'. Um/zanf H A Z I Sept. 16, 1930. e. E. COUTANT RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR Filed Aug. 2, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet fnvenzor:

gebz el'. Coulanl 's. E. COUTANT RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR Filed Aug- 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet P 16, 1930- G. E. COUTANT 75,848

RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR Filed Aug. 2, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Sept. 16, 1930 fuaireu sTATns PATENT OFFICE GEORGE E. GOUTANT, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS RAILWAY- CAR SIDE DOOR Application filed August 2, 1928. Serial No. 296,943.

device relates to a railway car having a door opening in its side wall and a door arranged to move horizontally to close the door opening. Such a door may be supported upon the side sill by brackets with anti-friction rollers mounted therein, (as illustrated) or it may be supported by suspension hangers engaging a track supported 'byfthe side plates adjacent the top of the door opening. The front vertical edge of the door is provided with a stiffener or frame member having a tongueor extension which engages a front door stop mounted on the front door post and the rear vertical edge of the door is provided with a stiffener or frame member having a tongue or extension which engages a rear locking strip mounted on the rear door post. These front and rear tongue engagements form weatherproof and burglar-proof joints. The upper horizontal edge of the door is provided with a stiffener, frame member or a top interlocking strip and the bottom edge is provided with a frame member of perhaps a bottom track with a vertical depending lip behind the supporting bracket (as illustrated).

The front, rear, top and bottom stiifeners may be secured together at the corners of the door to form a rectangular frame. It is common practice tostifl'en the four sides of a wooden door with such frame members and to stiffen the wooden door with battens, stiles and intermediate horizontal metal stiffening strips, but 'my device is an improvement thereon and contemplates the use of a rela tively thin metallic plate rigidly secured to such a frame (or formed integral therewith) and'may be reinforced with integral horizon tal, vertical or diagonal corrugations or embossments formed therein which transmit any loads or thrusts imposed thereon to the frame members. A side door is subjected to tion is caused by the door opening being out of square. Such forces are also caused when the door suddenly hits the back door stop an eccentric blow. The crow-bar when used to open a door is another source of trouble.

Considerable difiiculty is experienced by the shearing of the rivets which secure the metallic plate to the frame members or stiffeners. This is caused by the rivet heads hitting the frame members of the car when being moved horizontally to open or closed position. It is not unusual for a rivet head to come in contact with a door post, whereupon the hasp is put over the staple and hit with a sledge, causing a sheared rivet or broken hasp. Countersunk rivets in such a thin metallic sheet are impracticable. (Such sheets aer usually thick.)

The object of the invention is to provide a door for a railway freight car made of a thin metallic sheet, having stiffening members riveted to one or more margins thereof. and to oil'set said margin or margins so that the heads of the rivets will be within the plane bounding the main body of the door so that such rivet heads will clear the car body when moving to open or closed position; or in other words, the main body of the door sheet will prevent the rivet heads from striking the car body.

Another object is to protect the front or back spark strip by positioning it adjacent the vertical door stifiener (or securing it thereto) so that any blow upon the spark strip will be partially transmitted to the stiffener.

Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 show sections through front, back, top and bottom, respectively, of my preferred construction.

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 show a modified construction.

Figs. 9 and 10 show another modified construction.

Fig. 11 shows a horizontal section through a car wall having a door according to my invention.

Fig. 12 shows an assembled door.

In the drawings the usual parts of the car are shown, such as, side sill 1, floor 2, floor support 3, side plate 4, door hood 5, front preventing'thej-top o rivets go fromhitting tion with oiiset portions at front (21),

' rear (22), top (23) and bottom,(24c.)

The] front stifiener 25 is secured to the i-front oiisetportion'21 with round headrivgages the rear sparkgstrip 9 A stiffening flange 33 may be providedp- 'f i door.; a

I i ets 26, and is formed with a tongue 27 c which enters the recess 28 formed by the strip Sand door post 6. This .tongue is substantially flush with the body'portion 20 of the sheet.

' A stiffening flange 29 may be providedf j g The rear stiffener-30 is secured to the rear oii'set portion 22 by the round'head rivets 31,- andis formed with afiange'32 which en- *{The top stiiiienerfiois secured tor'the top offset23 by rivets36 andinterengags with the hood 5. The inside wall 37 of the'stiiiener is substantially flush with the sheet body portion 20. A door hanger 38 fortop hung doors is shown in dotted lines inFigure 3!, l

The bottom/stifi'ener 40 is secured to the bottom ofiset portion 24;,by rivets ll. The inner flange 42; is substantiallyifiush with the body-portion12O ofthe door sheet. A bottomrsupporting roller 43 and its bracket 4A'is shown. but, of course, my invention may be usedwith either a top or bottom supported In the tions, the rivetheads are positioned within the recess 46 formed by the ofiset and; the

stifiener and are of less depth than the re- VV'hen the dooriis moved horizontallyto' open-orcloseit, the inner wall 37 of the top stiiiener 85 rubs againstthe lintel 12, thus the car body, particularly the door posts.

I The tongue 27 of the front stifiiener'25 rubsv against the floor 2 and li e l -1 thus protecting the rivets, and likewise the body portion 2O of the sheet rubs against the rear door post 7 and holds the rivets awayifromthe car body. It is not neces- V sary-to the invention that all-of the above described constructions be used in'Ithe same 7 door. 7

.door spark strip 62 is used. lntheimodila In the modified constructions shown, in

'Figslo, 6, 7,, 8, and 12, the door sheet is reinforced by an integral corrugation ad acent each margin which is reinforced by a lattice 61 to form a box girder and 'a rear 1 fied constructions shown in Figs. 9,and=-10,

c aj' s'eparat e corrugated plate 63-i riveted to V eachvertical margin of the door sheet and re inforced by a fiat sheet 64 to form a box-girder, and a separate rear spark strip 65 is used.-

The striking of the'rear spark strip 62 -65 against the-rear stop '9 (on the car body) ,bends and twists the rear spark strip, therethe body of the-sheetwill prevent the rivet I described front and top marg fore, when acorrugatedstiiiener, or any separate stiffener is used, I prefer to extend the 7 door spark strip to engagethe stiffener as shown at in Figs. 9 and10, Orin fact, it 7 shown by rivets 71m F1gs.. 5 and 6. The

may be desirable to secure it, the stiffener, as

lattice 61 makes it'possibleto drive the rivf ets. 1 Fig, '11 shows a casting? 2 which transrnits the blow'to both the'spark strip and stiffener. This casting. engages the stop 73 on thecar'body.

exact details"of'construction shown and defications thereof within the scope of the claims will occurto persons skilled inthe art,

Iclaimp a .1.. In a railway car, the combination of a stop on the car body, a horizontally movable door comprising a metallic-sheet, a]stiiiener} having a laterally entending portion and se cured to 7 said sheet adjacent one margin f arranged to engage vsaidstop and arranged 0 thereof by round head rivets and a member to transmit anylolow thereon to said portion said margin being oii set so that when the dodr is beingmovedinto open or closed position headsfrom striking the car body. 7

2. A. door fora railway carromprising a.

metallic sheetfhaving an outwardly .otl'set' portion adjacenteach vertical-and horizontal v edge, amember securedto each of saidfportions havinga stiffening flange projecting in the same directionas said'o'fiset portions, and another stiffening fiangeprojecting'inthe opposite direction from said offsetportions 3; A metallic door for a ra1lwaycarprovided with a continuous corrugation. ad a cent the edgesthereoianda plurality otem, s 1

bossments with their oppositeends merging into p'art'sjof said corrugatioin themarginalportion vof-the door adjacent said c orrugation being in'a-difierent-plane than the central portion of the door.-

4.;A metallic door-for arallway car pro l vided witha corrugation adjacent each op ,7

posite iedgethereofiand a plurality of embossments normal to and merging into said corrugations, the marginal portion "of the door adjacent said corrugation being iira thedoor. a GEOBGEE-COUTANT,

1 i I I plane than the cent l Portion 

